COMMON LITERARY
TERMS
PREPARED BY KIM HAGLUND, M.ED: TLC COORDINATOR
CHARACTER
•A representation of an individual in literary work.
•The main character is referred to as the protagonist.
•The character against whom the protagonist struggles is referred to as the
antagonist.
Captain Ahab
Moby Dick
Herman Melville
Ishamael
Moby Dick
Herman Mellville
CHARACTERIZATION
An author’s use of dialogue and description—physical, emotional, psychological, and
intellectual—to portray characters.
Round characters have depth and complexity, are fully developed, and undergo change or growth.
“And isn't Voldemort convinced that Snape's on his side, even now?
Professor ... how can you be sure Snape's on our side?”
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
J. K. Rowling
Flat characters have few traits described.
They are minor characters and serve a supportive role in the text.
CLIMAX
The point of greatest emotional intensity, interest, or suspense in the plot.
The point at which the fate of the protagonist is most at stake.
“What would you say, Harry, if I told you that I had murdered
Basil?”
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde
CONFLICT
A struggle between two opposing forces or characters in a narrative.
Characters can face conflicts within themselves or conflicts with nature,
society, supernatural forces, or other characters.
“A breach in the giant flesh-frame showed then, shoulder muscles sprang
apart, there was a snapping of tendons, bone-locks burst. To Beowulf the
glory of this fight was granted.”
Beowulf
CONNOTATION
The thoughts, feelings, attitudes, judgments, and images associated with a
word.
Society’s notions about a word not related to its dictionary definition.
Connotation is used to evoke emotion in a reader.
Example: a figurative versus literal heart
DIALOGUE
The lines spoken by characters or the conversations between characters.
“Don’t have scenes with your young ladies. Try not to. Because
you can’t have scenes without crying, and then you pity
yourself so much you can’t remember what the other person
has said.”
The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway
DIALOGUE
Soliloquy: The character is alone and speaking directly to the audience to
reveal thoughts, feelings, or ideas while no other character is present.
“To be, or not to be: That is the question / Whether ‘tis nobler in
the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, /
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles / And by opposing, end
them?
Hamlet
William Shakespeare
DIALOGUE
Monologue: A long, uninterrupted speech by one character.
“Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious by this son of
York…”
Richard III
William Shakespeare
DICTION
•The choice and arrangement of specific words as opposed to others that
convey tone and evoke emotion in the reader.
•Diction can be formal, conversational, or slang.
•It can be literal or figurative.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single
man in possession of a good fortune must be in
want of a wife.”
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
•Language that departs from the everyday literal use of words.
•Using figures of speech such as metaphors and symbols to describe
something or convey meaning.
“A man should learn to detect and
watch that gleam of light which
flashes across his mind from within.”
Self Reliance
Ralph Waldo Emerson
FLASHBACK
A type of narration in which the present action is temporarily interrupted
with a scene of past event in order to provide information to the reader about
a place or character.
"To Sethe, the future was a matter of keeping the past at bay. The 'better
life' she believed she and Denver were living was simply not that other one."
Beloved
Toni Morrison
FORESHADOWING
•The use of hints or clues in the narrative to suggest what action is to come
“I was never kinder to the
old man than in the week
before I killed him”
The Tell-Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe
HYPERBOLE
Exaggerated statement used for emphasis or effect.
An overstatement not intended to be taken literally.
“I am assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London; that a young healthy child, well
nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food; whether stewed, roasted, baked
or boiled, and I make no doubt, that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or ragout.”
A Modest Proposal
Jonathon Swift
IMAGERY
Vivid descriptions that evoke mental pictures and appeal to the senses (sight,
sound, smell, taste, touch).
Literal or figurative sensory pictures that evoke feelings and sensations.
“Concealed within his fortress, the lord of Mordor sees all. His gaze pierces
cloud, shadow, earth, and flesh. You know of what I speak Gandalf: a great
Eye, lidless, wreathed in flame.”
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
J.R.R. Tolkien
LITERAL LANGUAGE
Language that means exactly what it says.
Words that follow their defined meaning as used in everyday life.
For example: “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse,” would not be taken
literally.
But, “I’m so hungry I could eat a two hamburgers,” would.
The news is an example of literal language.
METAPHOR
A comparison stating that one thing is something else, although literally it is
not.
Metaphors suggest a resemblance.
“History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to
awake.”
Ulysses
James Joyce
PERSONIFICATION
Giving human traits or qualities to non-human things.
Representing animals or inanimate objects as having human abilities.
“Wilbur never forgot Charlotte. Although he loved her children and grandchildren
dearly, none of the new spiders ever quite took her place in his heart. She was in a
class by herself. It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a
good writer. Charlotte was both.”
Charlotte’s Web
E. B. White
PLOT
The arrangement of ideas and incidents.
The series of events that form the action in a story.
“Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off
course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy. Many cities of men he
saw and learned their minds, many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea,
fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home.”
The Odyssey
Homer
POINT OF VIEW
The perspective from which a narrative is told.
In first person point of view, the narrator tells the story as a
character who takes part in the plot or observes it directly. This
narrator usually knows only what has been explicitly revealed or what
he/she is able to deduce.
Nick Carraway narrates The Great Gatsby and through his
narration, casts himself as the books author.
"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one...just
remember that all the people in this world haven't
had the advantages that you've had.”
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Firzgerald
POINT OF VIEW
In third person point of view the narrator is not directly
involved in the story but tells it as an outside observer.
Third person narrators may be omniscient (knowing all
the character’s actions and motivation.
The narrator in A Tale of Two Cities switches
between Paris and London, knowing all the
events happening in both cities.
“I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising
from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly
free, in their triumphs and defeats, through long
years to come, I see the evil of this time and of the
previous time of which this is the natural birth,
gradually making expiation for itself and wearing
out. . . .”
A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens
POINT OF VIEW
Third person narrators may be limited (knowing what only one or a few
characters know and feel).
"I would always rather not know. Then, no matter what can happen,
it was not me that talked.“
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Ernest Hemingway
POINT OF VIEW
Third person narrators may be objective (objectively reporting events without
knowledge or opinions about character motivation.
“There had been, also, a ritual salute, which the official of the lottery
had had to use in addressing each person who came up to draw from
the box, but this had also changed with time, until now it was felt
necessary only for the official to speak to each person approaching.”
The Lottery
Shirley Jackson
POINT OF VIEW
Second person point of view is much less common in literature.
In this perspective, the narrator tells the story to a character addressed as
“you” which causes readers to fell that they are the character in the story
rather than witnessing the action in the story.
Example: Most self-help books are written in second person point of
view.
RESOLUTION OR DENOUEMENT
The outcome or result of the conflict which usually occurs at the end of the
plot.
Complications are resolved in some way and clarification are made.
Do not pity the dead, Harry, pity the living. Above all, pity those who live without
love. By returning you may ensure that fewer souls are maimed and fewer families are
torn apart. If that seems to you a worthy goal, then we say goodbye for the present.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
J. K. Rowling
SETTING
The time and place of a story
It’s location and physical surroundings as well as its era or time period.
“Our part of District 12, nicknamed the Seam, is usually crawling with
coal miners heading out to the morning shift at this hour…But today the
black cinder streets are empty. Shutters on the squat gray houses are closed.”
The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins
SIMILE
A figurative comparison between two unlike objects which nonetheless have
similarities.
Comparison is made by using an adverb such as “like” or “as.”
“My love is like a red, red rose
That is newly sprung in June.”
A Red, Red Rose
Robert Burns
STYLE
The author’s characteristic way of using language to achieve certain effects.
The author’s individual word choice and syntax.
"She lives in a world of her own-a world of-little glass ornaments."
The Glass Menagerie
Tennessee Williams
SYMBOL
A word, object, place, character, or action that means something beyond what
it means on a literal level and represents a more abstract idea or meaning.
Example: King Arthur’s sword, Excalibur. Excalibur is not just a
sword, it is a symbol of divine kingship, responsibility, and power.
THEME
The major idea of a literary work.
The message or central unifying point.
Example: The Lord of the Flies. The major themes in this novel are
civilization versus savagery and the loss of innocence.
"Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life."
The Lord of the Flies
William Golding
TONE
An author’s attitude toward the topic or the readers.
Tone is the mood conveyed in the work.
Tone can be hopeful, critical, playful, etc.
Tone can be created through diction and connotation.
“When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the
dunces are in a confederacy against him.”
A Confederacy of Dunces
Jonathon Swift